Family Affair by Elle M Thomas

Chapter 16

 

Declan

 

“You’re taking Anita home? Tomorrow? For one of Mum’s, ‘it’s not a special occasion even though we all know it is’ afternoon teas?” Mase’s tone is a little disbelieving.

“That’s what I said, isn’t it? Unless your hearing is failing you in your old age.” I sound terse, but his questions and the tone of them is pissing me off. Why wouldn’t I take her to my mum’s house with me for a family get together? I ignore my own answer that suggests I’m as surprised as Mase by my actions, but when I asked her to come with me, it felt right. I want Anita there with me.

Mase laughs at me, irking me a little more. “Calm your tits.” He shakes his head and leans forward in his chair on the opposite side of my desk to me.

I flip him off. Not mature but it’s all I have.

“Are you on your period or something, because these mood swings are screaming manstruation to me.”

I laugh at his play on menstruation that sounds more Liv than Mase. “Fuck off.”

“I wasn’t saying you shouldn’t take Anita with you to Mum’s. I was just a little surprised. It’s very unlike you not to fly solo at these things.”

I nod. Mase’s summing up is entirely accurate.

“What did she say when you asked her?”

“She was a little reluctant, but she has agreed to come, and she knows you and Liv will be there, so that probably helped.”

“Please pre-warn Mum, you know how she gets when we take a girl home…in fact, pre-warn Anita, you know how Mum gets when we take a girl home.”

I really hadn’t thought this through. Mum will see this as significant, like marriage and babies significant. It wasn’t. I wasn’t marriage and babies significant. I couldn’t remember the last time I had taken a girl home…that wasn’t true, I knew exactly when and I knew precisely who.

My face must morph into one suggesting a bad memory or bitter taste, probably both because Mase is on his feet and standing next to me. He pats me on the back, causing me to look up at him.

“Anita will be fine and the past, well, it’s precisely that. Look, I have to go. I promised Liv I wouldn’t be too late.”

I roll my eyes at my brother who is seriously whipped, but happily so.

“Don’t do it, Dec. Not a fucking word or I will be forced to tell you that I have a bath for two and mutual massage on the agenda if I’m not too late.”

I feign a distasteful expression, but the truth is, I could go for a bath for two and some massaging, not with Liv because Mase would kill me for the suggestion alone and certainly not with my brother, but with the right person, I can see the attraction of an early finish.

 

Looking out of the office window, I watch Mase head to his car, talking on his phone, presumably to Liv judging by his grin of shit eating proportions. He really is happy. I mean genuinely ecstatic, like his life couldn’t be any more perfect, and it couldn’t. He has a successful business that he works hard to maintain. He’s married to a beautiful, funny and bright wife who adores him and who is the light of his life and together they’re having a baby they are both desperate for. I smile for them both because they deserve all that they have.

My phone is already in my hand and as much as I want to call Anita or drop her a text, I don’t. Instead, I call my mum to warn her about me bringing a plus one.

She answers on the second ring. “Declan, darling.” She sounds genuinely pleased to hear from me.

“Hey, Mum.”

Before I say anything else, she speaks again, suspicious about the reason for my call.

“Declan, please tell me you’re not about to make some feeble excuse to avoid my afternoon tea tomorrow. You simply must be here, it’s important to me.”

I frown down the line, not that she can see it. The truth is if she could see me, I wouldn’t frown.

“Mum, calm down. No, I am not making any excuse, quite the opposite. I’d, like to, erm, bring someone with me.”

Silence. I wait for her to say something for so long that I pull my phone from my ear to check the call is still connected.

“Mum,” I repeat wondering if her silence is a prelude to her denying my request to bring Anita.

“Sorry, darling. Of course you can. Anyone I know? She must be very special if you want to bring her home to meet us all—”

I cut her off. “Don’t get carried away, Mum. She’s nice, she’s called Anita, and we’ve been seeing each other, but that’s all.”

I sense her satisfied smirk from the other end of this conversation. “Of course, dear…Anita?” She sounds as though she is trying to place the name. “Declan!”

She’s placed it.

“Is that a good idea? I assume this is the same Anita as Olivia’s sister? The one you danced with at Mason’s wedding. Please, tell me you’re not playing with fire—”

Time to cut her off again. “Mum, stop. You really are getting carried away, but yes, the same Anita.”

Silence again, but only for a few seconds this time.

“We’ll see you tomorrow then, both of you.”

“Yes, yes you will,” I say to myself after I hang up.

Staring out of the window again, I can’t help but wonder if this is going to prove to be a mistake of epic proportions to take Anita home when up to now neither of us have really acknowledged that we’re even seeing each other.

 

Anita

 

I’m like a cat on a hot tin roof, waiting for Scott to say something about what he saw. I don’t know what he saw. Did he see me and Dec kissing in his car, or did he only see him drop me off?

We passed on the path, him leaving the house and me entering it. He offered me a nod and then he was gone.

Now I am waiting for him to return as I have already decided that if he doesn’t say anything, I will because I need not to have this hanging over my head. I don’t know Scott very well, although he’s been here some months, but he’s a bit of a closed book really. He was brought up in the weird and abusive church with Liv where bad things happened, not that I know the details of what Scott was subjected to but knowing what happened to Liv it’s likely to have been pretty awful. I do know they had lots of rules and if they were broken, they were punished harshly. Because of this, I have no clue how he might react to having seen me with Dec. Will he see it as breaking rules on my part or just deceitful? If he does, will he feel obliged to tell our dad what he witnessed?

My mind is awash with all these thoughts and worries, meaning I will need to clear the air with Scott at the earliest opportunity and certainly before I go with Dec to his mother’s house. If I go with him.

 

~~~

 

I’m still worrying about the fallout from things when the front door opens. My family have all come home at the same time. They appear to have formed an orderly line judging by how they walk into the living room where I am sitting nervously. First comes my mum, then dad, both of my brothers and finally Scott who looks at me, without a single word besides his nod of greeting and acknowledgement.

Immediately, Dad begins chatting about the function we’re catering the following morning. He has already planned a trip to Dec’s kitchen early the following morning to collect the things in the fridges there, but tonight, between us, we will prep a few things before making a very early start to ensure everything is fresh.

After a brief discussion on the plan for dinner, I watch as Scott goes upstairs. I make my excuses and follow him.

When Scott moved in, we had to move things around a little. My parents, me and each of my brothers had our own bedroom and the other room upstairs was an office for the catering business. Scott slept on the sofa for a few nights, but I think Dad thought he was getting itchy feet and was likely to move on, possibly without leaving a forwarding address, so the office got relocated to the conservatory downstairs. The office space was then transformed into a bedroom for Scott. It’s not the biggest space, but he seems to like it.

I tap on his door that is shut. His door is always shut whether he is in there or not. I guess he values his privacy and I respect that. With my brothers, I would have knocked the door, but already been opening it, hoping not to catch them doing anything that brothers might do behind closed doors. Scott and I don’t have that familiarity, so I knock and wait.

After a few seconds, the door opens and he retreats to his bed where he sits and watches me, I presume inviting me in.

“Hi.” I have no clue what to say. What I want to say.

He studies me for a few seconds. “Hi.” He smiles what looks like a sympathetic smile. He knows why I am here, meaning he knows about me and Dec.

“Do you mind if I close the door?” The last thing I need is for my parents, especially my dad to find out about me and Dec by overhearing a conversation between me and Scott.

“If you want to.”

I do.

With the door closed, I awkwardly shuffle from one foot to the other and then come out with a few garbled words. “I don’t know what you know, what you saw…me and Dec, well there’s not a me and Dec, not really, not like serious…

He laughs, but unlike some occasions when I feel he is laughing at us, this is different. I’d never really noticed how attractive he is, but he is usually brooding and scowling. Now with his brilliant smile lighting up his whole face, I can’t help but see just how handsome he is.

“Look, whatever you and Dec are doing is between the two of you. It’s none of my business. So, if you are asking me to keep my mouth shut, I can do that, however, what I won’t do is lie for you. I don’t like lies and deceit. In my experience they have a habit of coming back and biting you on the arse…biting me on the arse, so as I say, I won’t lie for you. If anyone asks me if I have seen you and Dec together or kissing, I’ll tell the truth, but so long as you are discreet, there’s no likelihood of anyone asking that, is there?”

I shake my head, unsure what else there is to say.

“If it’s serious, you should be the one to tell the old man.” Scott laughs. “He won’t like it, but then it’s not his choice.”

I shrug, unsure what to say now. I’m unsure if it is serious, for Dec anyway. “I’m not sure Dad would see it as not being his choice.”

We both laugh.

“The time isn’t right,” I say, hoping Scott will leave it there.

“For you or Dec?”

“Maybe both of us.” I feel slightly guilty now, thinking that I have agreed to visit Dec’s mum with him and am now protesting that the time isn’t right to tell my parents that we’re involved.

“You have to do what you think is right, but please don’t let someone else be the one to tell Dad when the time is right.”

Scott’s right.

“Does Liv know?” he suddenly asks and one look at my face seems to confirm that. “Even more reason for you to be the one to tell him then or you’ll drop us all in it, and like me, Liv has been bitten by other people’s lies.”

I take his warning if that’s what it is and after a nod of agreement, I leave.